Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 14:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 14:20 advances the thought unit with the words “Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.” Job states “Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth” as one poetic claim in Job Says Divine Watching Erodes Human Hope.
Read It With
- Job 14:16–14:22
Read Job 14:20 with 14:16–14:22. Read alone, “Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job imagines transgression sealed up yet hope washed away like stone and soil, while the dead know neither family honor nor humiliation.
Why It Needs Context
Job 14:20 depends on 14:16–14:22; isolating “Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Says Divine Watching Erodes Human Hope.”
Read Job 14:16–22 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 14:16–14:22 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Says Divine Watching Erodes Human Hope.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 16. 16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
Verse 17. 17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
Verse 18. 18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
Verse 19. 19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
Verse 20. 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
Verse 21. 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
Verse 22. 22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 14:16–14:22 — Job Says Divine Watching Erodes Human HopeSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 14:16–14:22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 14:16–14:22
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗